Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Episode 6 of House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon delivered its biggest time jump yet in Episode 6, with Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke taking over the roles of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower from Milly Alcock and Emily Carey. Around a decade passed since Rhaenyra married Laenor and Viserys collapsed, but the king survived (even though he’s looking pretty rough). Alicent has given birth to a second son with the king, while Rhaenyra is mother to three suspiciously dark-haired boys with Laenor… or so she says. Throw in Daemon and Laena’s family in Pentos, and there are a lot of new characters after this time jump who are bound to be important moving forward.
And since a lot of this show's characters are at least part Targaryen, they’re pretty much all related in some form or other. So, now that House of the Dragon has entered into a new era, let’s break down how all the new Targaryens, Velaryons, and bastards are connected.
Viserys And Alicent's Children
In the ten years since Viserys collapsed at Rhaenyra’s wedding, Alicent has seemingly become an active player in the game of thrones. After giving birth to Aegon and Helaena before the time jump, she has since had another son. While these children were close to the front of the line of succession before their half-sister Rhaenyra’s marriage, they’ve been knocked further and further back with the births of their nephews for as long as Viserys refuses to disinherit his eldest child. At least they're still well ahead of their uncle Daemon!
Aegon Targaryen: Aegon is Viserys and Alicent’s eldest son and currently fifth in line for the Iron Throne after Rhaenyra and her children. In Episode 6, he seemed pretty much fine with Rhaenyra’s sons/his nephews and wasn’t even thinking about challenging his half sister’s claim before Alicent scared him into considering it. He has a dragon of his own, seems fairly spoiled, and evidently does not possess the gift of prophecy to know to stay away from windows in the Red Keep. (R.I.P. Tommen.)
Helaena Targaryen: Helaena is Viserys and Alicent’s daughter, around two years younger than Aegon. Book readers can guess that her seemingly random comments when her mother was speaking with her younger brother probably weren’t entirely random, and it appears that she won’t marry Rhaenyra’s heir. Whether that’s true for another one of her blood relatives remains to be seen. When it comes to Targaryens, they may be more likely to be married in than married off.
Aemond Targaryen: Viserys and Alicent’s second son and “spare,” if the realm would consider Aegon the heir. He doesn’t seem as comfortable as his brother with Rhaenyra’s boys, not helped by the fact that they have dragons and he does not. He seems easily goaded, considering that he could have died after Aegon and their nephews pranked him with the pig as a dragon. If Helaena’s mumblings are meaningful, a lot more is on the way with young Aemond.
Hair color: Blonde/white
Daemon And Laena's Children
Laena Velaryon and Daemon Targaryen flirted at Rhaenyra’s wedding feast, married, relocated to Pentos, and had two daughters over the ten years. They weren’t the happiest family unit, with the heavily pregnant Laena wanting to return to Westeros, Daemon disagreeing (and evidently favoring one daughter over the other), and Laena perishing by the end when she burned herself to death with Vhagar’s flames rather than die horribly in childbirth, leaving Daemon the sole living parent to two daughters. Via Daemon, they are cousins to Alicent's children and Rhaenyra. Via Laena, they are Rhaenyra's nieces and cousins to her sons by marriage.
Baela Targaryen: She is the oldest of Daemon and Laena’s two daughters, and evidently her father’s favorite. Baela has a dragon of her own, and Daemon was teaching her the High Valyrian language that he and Rhaenyra often speak to each other.
Rhaena Targaryen: The 8-year-old younger of Daemon and Laena’s daughters, Rhaena’s dragon egg never hatched, although she didn’t give up hope. She believes that her father values her less, but Laena had words of encouragement since she herself had to claim Vhagar rather than raise her own dragon.
Hair color: Blonde/white
Rhaenyra And Laenor's Children
Would this really be a show set in the Game of Thrones universe if there weren’t some highborn children of dubious parentage running around? In the decade since the wedding, Rhaenyra has given birth to three sons claimed by husband Laenor Velaryon. Their looks don’t exactly fit with what you’d expect of a Targaryen/Velaryon union, however. (See: Daemon and Laena's daughters.) The dark-haired princes look a lot more like bastards of Ser Harwin Strong.
On Rhaenyra's side, they're nephews to Alicent's children, grandchildren to Viserys, and great nephews to Daemon. As Laenor's legal sons, by marriage they're nephews to Daemon and cousins to his daughters. On Harwin's side, they're nephews to Larys.
Jacaerys Velaryon: Also known as “Jace,” he is second in line to the Iron Throne behind his mother. He’s old enough to connect the dots and ask his mother if Ser Harwin was his actual father, and she didn’t actually deny it, but pointed out that what matters is that he’s Targaryen. He has a dragon, and held his own in the yard against Aegon despite Aegon being older, considerably taller, and willing to fight dirty. If he becomes king, he’ll take the surname “Targaryen.”
Lucerys Velaryon: Also called “Luke,” he’s third in line to the Iron Throne behind Rhaenyra and older brother Jace. He has a dragon, and joined his brother and uncle Aegon in laughing at Aemond with the pig prank. He’s young enough to feel an attachment to Ser Harwin without realizing that Harwin might have been a whole lot more than a family friend.
Joffrey Velaryon: Rhaenyra’s youngest after the time jump and fourth in line to the Iron Throne. Born in the opening moments of Episode 6, his main purpose so far was to show off the dark hair that pointed toward him as another one of Ser Harwin’s bastards after Alicent demanded to see him immediately. Laenor named him “Joffrey" (without consulting his wife), and we can only hope that this Joffrey won’t meet as dark of a fate as Laenor’s dead lover or Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones.
Hair color: A Strong shade of brown
Bonus: The Strongs
Episode 6 revealed that the three Strong men had won places of prominence in King’s Landing, with Lyonel still serving as Hand, Harwin fathering Rhaenyra’s children, and Larys supporting Alicent. Lyonel decided that he needed to take Harwin (also his heir) back to Harrenhal after the rumors began dangerously growing about him and Rhaenyra, with the plan to return to King's Landing without his son afterward.
That never happened, as Larys took Alicent’s wish that her father could return as Hand of the King and ran with it. He employed some prisoners in the dungeons of the Red Keep with a deadly mission, and – after having their tongues removed to make sure they could never reveal his role – dispatched them to Harrenhal to start a fire that killed his father and brother. In one fell swoop, Larys opened the door for Otto Hightower’s return, complicated things for Alicent, and became heir to Harrenhal.
Hair color: A Strong shade of brown
There seem to be heirs, spares, and Targaryens ready to be married off by the end of Episode 6, even though Daemon and Laena's unborn third child died with its mother. They'll likely all be important in some form or other as the children of the main players in the House of the Dragon game of thrones... and notably, four of them already have dragons.
Find out what's next for this new generation as well as the adults with the next new episode of House of the Dragon on Sunday, October 2 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO or streaming with an HBO Max subscription.
